Over the last two decades, the tech industry has exploded and permeated every aspect of our lives. As a result, our world has changed drastically. We can summon a stranger to our location in minutes to drive us places, have our entire grocery list shipped to our front door, or download an entire anthology of books with a tap of our phone. With everything moving so quickly, academia has had its plate full trying to keep up. As a result, as long as you have the time, determination, and an internet connection, you can learn valuable skills that will lead you into a rewarding, high-paying career, all without setting foot in a school. Below are just a few of the careers you can craft for yourself without a college or university degree.

Coding & Web Development

Programmers, and specifically web developers, are a hot commodity in today’s job market. Websites these days are enormously complex and evolving programs that have dozens or hundreds of people designing, building, and maintaining them. The best part is, you can learn all the necessary skills to do these jobs from a plethora of resources on and off the web. Some of them cost absolutely nothing. Books, open courseware, and even whole businesses have been built around teaching people to code, and it still doesn’t seem to be enough: There aren’t enough programmers to meet the current demand and the profession is set to grow 27% by 2024.

The different types of careers available to coders and web developers are numerous and diverse. For example, As a UX developer, you can help program and design interfaces for web applications. On the other end of the spectrum, you can be a back-end developer — the individual that creates the code and databases that run in the background of every major website. Video games, tablet apps, even the apps on your smart television all have a team of coders building and maintaining them — many with no college degree at all.

Graphic & Web Design

The graphic design business has seen a meteoric rise in growth alongside the tech industry. Graphic designers used to be the folks who simply focused on conceiving logos, business cards, and magazine layouts. While many of them still create that sort of work, there’s now a whole new subset of designers that work exclusively in tech. They produce websites, interfaces for smartphones, graphics for smartwatches, and heads-up displays in vehicles — not to mention all the art and animation that you see in online videos across the web.

Just like with programmers, the design business is one that can be learned through an assortment of books, websites, and various online resources. While there still are plenty of design programs at colleges and universities, at the end of the day, most employers only care about your abilities and what you have in your portfolio.

A Career as an Entrepreneur

An article about careers in tech is practically beholden to mention the esteemed entrepreneur. While an entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily have to establish their business in the tech industry, it’s certainly a perfect place in which to do so. The rules are constantly changing and the bona fide name of the game is disruption. If you’ve got a brilliant business plan, have an affinity for high risk and high reward, but no patience for a university, then life as an entrepreneur might be how you forge your magnum opus. You’d certainly be in good company, given that the tech industry has a high representation of monumentally successful college dropouts: Apple’s Steve Jobs, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, just to name a few.

Conclusion

No one can argue that an education isn’t a great thing to have. But depending on your preferences and abilities, it may no longer be the best path to take to build a rewarding career for yourself. It’s also important to note that this list is far from exhaustive; there are many other careers that are in high demand and offer great compensation, both in and out of the tech industry. Do your homework before entering an institution of higher education — the investment of several years and several thousand dollars may be a dunce’s decision.